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By Godwin Chukwumaechi, Port Harcourt
Conflicting reports are emanating from Soku, in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State where it has been reported that a gas explosion has occurred.
This report is coming less than a week after two similar incidents happened, one on the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) in Bodo community, Gokana Local Government Area and the other on a manifold at Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area.
The latest incident has been alleged to have occurred in the wee hours of Sunday with reports claiming that the affected facility belongs to the NLNG.
However, community sources in Soku have refuted the report saying that there was no such incident in the community as the pipeline was safe and in operation.
Also a reliable source inside NLNG told our correspondent that he could not immediately confirm whether the report was true and actually happened on the company’s facility or not.
Report has it that the explosion was on a gas facility located at the Soku gas pipeline operated by NLNG.
Non-governmental organisation, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), said it confirmed the explosion through its youth volunteers’ network in the area.
In a statement by its Executive Chairman, Dr Dumnamene Fyneface, made available to journalists in Port Harcourt, the environmental group said “an explosion accompanied by fireballs was heard and seen in the sky from the facility area which is hard-to-reach and the fire is still ongoing as at the time of this report.
“The cause of the explosion is not yet known whether it’s caused by equipment failure, sabotage or attack on the facility”.
The Advocacy centre called for investigation into the latest incident, urging the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to carry out a joint investigation visit (JIV) to the area with a view of determining the cause of the incident and holding perpetrators to account in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021.
Reacting to the report, the leadership of the Soku community denied that there was an explosion on the gas facility in the area.
The general secretary of the community, Mr. Witness Alasia, in a statement described the alleged explosion as untrue, while urging the public to disregard the news as circulated in the social media.
He said “On behalf of the leadership of the Soku Kingdom, I write to debunk the falsehood escalating in all social media that there was an explosion in the Soku Gas Plant.
“It is disheartening and worrisome that people will mischievously misinform the public with a baseless and untrue story. Soku Gas Plant is safe and in a perfect working condition.
“The public should disregard this unguided and untrue report. Though there was a fire outbreak in one of the gas pipelines along Soku-Abua-Rumuji Right of way. The cause of the explosion is unknown and the company also has not come up with any useful information.
“We use this medium to inform the public that Soku and her satellite communities are safe and calm”, Alasia added.
Also the NLNG source who pleaded anonymity said could not immediately confirm the report. He however suggested an official reaction from the company would likely be out this week.